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Attorneys for the Michigan contractor being sued over construction defects at Carmel’s Palladium concert hall have asked a Hamilton County court to halt repair work immediately to preserve evidence in the case.

A trial on construction defects had been scheduled for next week, but recently was postponed until December.

Construction of the $119 million Palladium stopped for about three months in 2009 after an inspection revealed a rip in the structural steel supporting the venue’s domed roof. Work resumed after extensive repairs.

The Carmel Redevelopment Commission sued Steel Supply in 2011, alleging that the company failed to properly fabricate steel for the project. The commission is seeking about $5 million in damages.

Steel Supply has denied liability, laying the blame on the project engineer’s design, which it says caused some of the steel columns supporting the roof to fail.

The defense team discovered and reported new potential problems with the roof trusses in January, during the legal discovery process, and city consultants came up with a remediation plan in March.

In April, the city said the venue would undergo another $140,000 in repairs, and crews have been working around its performance schedule to weld stiffeners and small plates into place.

That work should be done next week, according to Thursday’s court filing, but Steel Supply has not had access to the engineering analysis that led to the repairs and has not been able to inspect the structural steel.

Court records also indicate that fireproofing planned for the area following remediation will prevent further review of the area.

Such actions “would result in the spoliation of evidence, and will irreparably harm the defendants, and ultimately adversely affect their ability to protect their rights in the action,” the filing said.

Although the commission’s original lawsuit did not include allegations about the roof trusses, the filing said city attorneys advised the court during a May 24 status conference that they plan to amend the complaint “to assert new issues related to roof trusses and potentially other issues.”

Davis joined IBJ as a reporter in August 2001, moving to Indianapolis from Jacksonville, Fla., where she worked for three years as an editor at The Florida Times-Union—and coordinated coverage of the historic 2000 presidential election. One hurricane (Floyd) and one political firestorm (see above) were enough to drive her back to her native Indiana. A graduate of Ball State University, Davis spent six years at The News-Sentinel in Fort Wayne before fleeing for warmer climes. At IBJ, she has covered philanthropy, education, tourism and media. She rejoined the editing ranks in 2004, most recently serving as online editor. Davis also is one of IBJ’s restaurant reviewers. Outside of work, she is past president of Storytelling Arts of Indiana’s board of directors. In her free time, she enjoys playing poker, cheering on hopeless sports teams and spending time with family and friends. Davis lives in Fishers with her husband and their two cats.

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